Tough weather is no problem as U.S. bobsled team earns 4 more medals

Steve Holcomb often says, "It is what it is," when asked about the unpredictable difficulties of professional sports. But the defending Olympic gold medalist showed real resilience when he won his fourth gold medal in eight days Saturday.

In the women’s race, the U.S. team demonstrated its depth with a sweep of the podium. Two of the three drivers were competing with different push athletes than they drove with Friday, but the gold medal crew was the same for both days — driver Elana Meyers and Aja Evans. Meyers and Evans won the race with a time of 1:38.61, while Jamie Greuble and Lolo Jones tied for silver with Jazmine Fentlator and Lauryn Williams with times of 1:39.24. It was the first World Cup competition for Williams, who pushed the second-fastest times of the day behind Meyers and Evans.

It’s the first sweep by the U.S. women’s bobsled team since 2001.

"We switched out several brakemen today and had great results, so it just shows how strong this team is from top to bottom," Meyers said. "I can't say enough about our mechanics that prepared the sleds for us to race today. We have the best support staff in the world."

The women have said their goal is to sweep at the 2014 Olympics, and Saturday’s snowy race result was an indicator that they’re capable of that.

Williams is hoping they can all take gold home from Russia.

"Tell Sochi to start making more gold medals now," Williams joked. "I like the idea of finishing 1-1-1."

The weekend was a record-setting haul for the U.S. as it earned 10 medals in two days of racing. For Fogt, the Alpine native is having trouble comprehending that he’s won four medals in a little more than a week.

“I’ve won more medals in the last week than I’ve won in the last four years of my bobsled career,” he said. “It’s pretty awesome. We have three more races here at home in Lake Placid, and hopefully we’ll keep the momentum going forward.”

Amy Donaldson covers high school sports, winter and Olympic sports, as well as outdoor and recreation. She contributes to the Deseret News' Reasons to Run blog, as well as a twice-a-month fitness column. She also writes a more ..